Coronavirus (COVID-19)

A new study offers one of the first investigations into how effective school closures are in slowing the spread of infectious disease outbreaks. The study also asks when, and how, schools can reopen considering this pandemic may last a year or two.

The US, like much of the world, is moving to keep contact between its residents to minimum as it grapples with the spread of coronavirus, and a new project taking place at the Mayo Clinic is exploring what this could mean for medical testing.

British engineers are developing a modern version of the Negative Pressure Ventilator (NPV), more popularly known as the "iron lung," to provide COVID-19 patients under the care of the NHS with a simple, inexpensive alternative to ventilators.

Reversing prior advice, the CDC now recommends everyone wear cloth face masks in public settings such as pharmacies and grocery stores. The CDC says this advice is designed to reduce COVID-19 transmission from those who are unaware they have it.

In the first case of its kind, a four-year-old tiger at New York City’s Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed. The female Malayan tiger is believed to have been infected by a worker.

A team from Stanford University has developed an interactive website that allows users to create their own custom model estimating how different social distancing interventions affect the spread of COVID-19 over time.

Up to 25 percent of people infected with COVID-19 may present no symptoms, yet still transmit the disease, says CDC director Robert Redfield. A new report also suggests infected individuals can be contagious up to 3 days before any symptoms appear.

The WHO is standing by its recommendation healthy members of the population need not wear face masks to protect against COVID-19. However, some experts are suggesting broad implementation of masks may be useful in curbing viral transmission.

There is an arm of science focused on revealing insights about public health by analyzing the contents of our sewage. And now one of the scientists on its cutting edge wants to use the technology to help monitor outbreaks of COVID-19.

Last week the FDA approved the experimental use of blood from recovered COVID-19 subjects as a treatment for newly infected patients. The therapy harks back to the 1890s, and it may be the stop-gap we need while other treatments are in development.

There is a long line of research projects aimed at leveraging the famous sensitivity of canine noses to detect risks to human health. But could they be trained to sniff out the scent of COVID-19 and offer a non-invasive way to detect the disease.

Billions of people are currently confined to their homes, many are asking how long will this lockdown last, and what happens when we re-emerge? New models are suggesting this wave of social distancing is just the first phase of a war that may last until 2022.